Erstwhile
/ˈɝst.waɪl/ adj, adv
adj, adv ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Former, previous. India, literary, not-comparable
"“Scarcely had Alice reached her twentieth birthday, than she gave her erstwhile fiancée^([sic]) his formal congé.[…]”"
- 2 Respected, honourable. not-comparable, proscribed
"If you're for one of my erstwhile opponents, that's O.K. Just don't work too hard."
Adjective
- 1 belonging to some prior time wordnet
Adverb
- 1 Formerly; in the past. formal, literary, not-comparable
Adverb
- 1 at a previous time wordnet
Example
More examples"Tom watched in horror as the erstwhile contents of his grocery bags cascaded down the flight of stairs."
Etymology
From erst (“first, formerly”) + while.